Seeds of Peace Bunk 8 was made up of counselor Mandy of Chicago (top row from left), Nouf of Kuwait, Kavita of Georgia, Kaitlyn of New Jersey, Janet of Texas, counselor Fadia of Chicago, Jess of Chicago (bottom row from left), Sarah of Yemen, Safi of Egypt and Shatha of Jordan.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the final part in a series by Static Writer Kaitlyn McMahon that chronicles her experience at a unique camp this summer.
At camp, there was writing all over. Writing on the walls, on the ceilings, on the bedposts, even in the bathrooms, and though the messages were written alternately in English, Arabic and Hebrew, most conveyed a similar message: Seeds of Peace is heaven on Earth.
For the first few days, I wasn’t sure if I agreed with this idea. As my bunkmates and my counselors can attest to, it took me awhile to get accustomed to being without the luxuries of home. With about 15 minutes’ time allotted for showers each day and a half hour to get up and out in the morning, there wasn’t much room in the schedule for blow-drying hair or putting on makeup. Bad hair? No makeup? Surely this was not paradise!
I admit it took me far too long to realize that my camp predecessors weren’t talking about the material elements or the facilities at camp; they were talking about the people and the environment, the safety, the comfort. These are the things I miss most about Seeds of Peace. Not a day goes by that I don’t wish I was there again, knitting with my bunkmates or debating with my dialogue group, feeling like we were all in our own world where cultural differences didn’t separate us.
Near the end of each camp session, everyone is randomly split into two teams for Color Games. The green team and the blue team face each other in intense competition for two to three days. Color Games highlight all kinds of abilities (with activities in areas like athletics, music, art and even cooking), and they manage to include and to unify the whole camp.
All disagreements or biases are forgotten when you and your teammates must work together for the common good of green or blue.
The Color Games were amazing. We all became attached to our teams, feeling emotion with each win or loss and making up cheers for team spirit. We worked and played hard, and it was worth every moment of the experience. Color Games broke down all the boundaries at camp and in the end, they brought us together more than any of us thought possible.
The same night Color Games concluded, we had a big campfire. Each of the eight coaches from our teams gave speeches, mentioning how proud they were of us for working together so well and hoping that we had as much fun as they did. Tim Wilson (camp director and Seeds of Peace vice president) gave us a speech as well, saying that he hoped we had valued our time at Seeds and enjoyed every moment.
I started to cry while Tim was speaking. I didn’t take advantage of the experience as much as I should have, I thought. Maybe I spent too much time dwelling on the insignificant things and not understanding and treasuring the big picture. What a wonderful place, what fantastic people—and now I had only one day left at camp to enjoy them.
The last day, we met with our dialogue groups one final time. Group E had a little party, laughing and joking and having fun with each other. Ahmad Al-Shammri, from Kuwait, said he had some gifts for the American girls—he gave all four of us traditional Kuwaiti dresses. We put them on over our clothes and exclaimed how beautiful they were. I had brought some gifts to give to my new friends also, so I gave out souvenirs from Cape May.
Bader Jamjoom, from Saudi Arabia, said, “Hey Kait, what’s Cape May?”
The next morning we got up, ate breakfast and finished packing. Buses were waiting to take all the kids from Beyond Borders to Boston. We shared warm goodbyes with many of our counselors who could not join us on our trip because of obligations at work or school. We boarded the buses and waved goodbye to camp, missing it already.
Boston was great. We went shopping in Quincy Market, and all the Arab kids rushed into the Gap to buy “American clothes.” We also went sightseeing on a Duck Tour and later had dinner in the John F. Kennedy Library.
When it was time for us to leave Boston to board our planes and head back home, many of us were crying. We had all become so close in the last two weeks, sharing an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and now we’d have to go six months without seeing one another.
Beyond Borders will meet again in Jordan for a week in March. We will be visiting historical and cultural sites, hearing speakers and meeting again with our dialogue groups for continued leadership training.
I miss my friends, especially Bunk 8 and Group E, every day. Often I say to myself, “Ash would think this was hilarious!” or “Joan would love this song.” All of us are connected by this experience. We will all hold special places in our hearts and minds for Seeds of Peace—and for one another.